Great Singer of the Week: Marilyn Horne

When someone mentioned the great Marilyn Horne to me recently, I confessed Ms. Horne--Jackie to her friends--had been my first operatic idol.  I think I had first seen her on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson back when people cared about more than Jersey Shore and whatever faux competition TV show is popular now, and also on reruns of The Odd Couple, when she had an occasional role as as a shy friend of Oscar Madison.

Here is the Wikipedia bio about her remarkable life and career.

How could I not be enamored with singing like this?

Singing "In si barbara" from Semiramide, in a made-for-TV feature called "Rossini at Versailles", 1985 (apologies for the poor video quality):

And in 1991 under James Conlon (theater uncredited):

Liber sriptus from Mr. Verdi's Requiem, of which, you might recall, I am somewhat fond (Orchestre e Coro de la RAI de Roma. Claudio Abbado conductor. October 10, 1970):

One of her greatest roles, opposite one of her favorite costars, Joan Sutherland, on a 1970 TV show:

An early audio recording--as Beethoven's Leonore!

And as Brünnhilde (Götterdämmerung)!